Apparatus for purifying the air in subways.



J. RING. APPARATUS POB PURIPYING THE AIR IN SUBWAYS. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 21, 1907 -922,953, PtentedMay25, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

kavezatan g I Y J. RING. APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING THE AIR IN SUBWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 21, 1907.

Patented May 25, 1909.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.-

J. RING;

APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING THE AIR IN SUBWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 21, 1907.

922,953. Patented May 25, 1909'.

, 3 SEE ETB-SHEET 3.

, Se rtr I "subwaygltothe e e1 1 JOHN RING, or .s'r.

LOUIS, MISSOURI.

'"EPPARATUS FOR PURIFYING THE AIR mfsUBwAYs.

,.l '0 all whom it m (11y concern: I

\ Be it known thatl, JOHN RING,' a citizerrof the United States of America, residing at thecity-o'f-St. Louis, in thejSt'ate of Missouri, have invented? certain new. and useful Improve nentsfin Ap ere-tus for Purifying the Airinfsubwaygo which thefoliOwing is it full, clear, "exact "d'escript'ion reference- Ibo in fhzijct to the accompanying; drawings,

' i forming-partofthisspeci ication.

Myiiive tionrelatesfto ar'i apperatus for jpurifyingjair in subways. such as are utilized in the operation .of underground railroads and in which the outer air is sought to be r Q 5 broilghtgin by. every 'possible rneen's'and has free ingress end"egress arid is drawn in,

stirred'u with the. dust in'the tunnel and f-expelled y the movement of the cerspassing t r thr sh- In 'tion of'siibwey reilroaid's et the apres'er'it N yeryiiinsetisfectory 'sar'iii di t Iis ixist'tliefeltmospherethait d i the passengers trans- 'aiidtheodorsdue H v nd tions are found s0 ableit ti'iefsje'ns'es of the passengers r der trzivel in the subways unpleas ant and. .improye'meiit s the condition of such atmosphere sreiimperetivelynecessary. The enacious mentioned. are made more Jnanif v due to thegl iig'h tempereture of the atn ospherefin the subway, caused mainly by Y'the enormous expenditure of electric energy" utilized for the operation of the: railroad ears and consequent to frictional contact between the. car lwheels end the railroad rails This high. temperature teiids to aggre-yete the u1 1- 1 ileiesoiiit' conditions in the 1 subways end 'grefetlyfli-ncrezises the possible dangersito the heeltl' ofthefpes'sehgers resulting from the on'tact 0t Vest nuinbers'offieople of all eiidyconditions and livinqg many of uhder un'sehitary surr'o ni i'ngs when he'course of triivel iirthesubways. i ye heretofore been' 3 11; detooyercoinetl gobjectio zible features tirgitlheye bee cited, such as thrdugh the whole or vents leadingfrom the oreitmosphere, end the us 'ic'f ow'ers 0' s,v but'theseeii'oi'ts have resulted 0111 "ii epertiiilelimination of'tiie objec'ti'oneb e conditions and thereforehave not pi-oven satisfactory agencies for the cor- I 5 pressing,

rectlon of the objcctioimble conditions.

m- For thepurpose of eliminating the unset'is- 1 Specification of Letters Petent. Application filed October 21, 1907'. Seriai No.f398,414. I

pet the eir in' one direction pipes, due to refrigerotinig and injwhichz PatehtedMay 25, 1999.

subways l have devised the system of air factory conditions of thejetmosphere in such purification to be herein" described and-which may be briefi'y set forth es follows: Air'is taken from the atmosphere exterior of the subwayet as high a polrit above the earth as practicable, compressed to e high pressure, then passed throughcooling coils fo'r'the pure pose of reducing the heat-.ofthe air, which,.

under compression, has become sensible heat, toil'atent heat, or, in other words, toat'm'os pheric temperature. The compressed and cooled air is then delivered into a storage reservoir and from said storage reservoir-is conducted to a. distribution point. At this last named point the air enters int'o'expansion pipes situated in the subway and open to comfnunication therewith. sion pipes are controlled. by ex )ansion valves and: they are continued. to su', 'cient lengths in the subway to afford refrigerating surfaces to coolthe air inthe subway by the absorption of heat therefrom and due to the exponsioriofthe..compressed air while escaplng through the expansion valves into the expansion'pipes. The air, as it escapesinto the subway and mixes with the air pre- The expan- I viously present thereiinstill retains the power of abstracting heat from-the air resent in the subway and itis quickly (istributed throughout the subway due to, the continual disturbance of. air. in such'sub' wey caused" by the passing railroad cars that act to iniand ceuse iuropby the suction ocrnent of the cars. I m phcre in the sub- Way is etiectu ally" n 'd' ndfis also cooled and furthermore t v critics, such as orga'nic substance-s, thetztre*present in the air po's'ite. movrn'ent thei eof inthe subway are uttritcted to the moisture (frost) which is created upon the expansion action in said pipes and said impurities are e sorbed by the moisture .n ention'e'd, thereby eliminating them breathed by passengers while being transported inthe railroodcers operated in the Figure I is an elevation of the sir comcoohng and storage devices. of the pp Fig. lI is ahelevation. of the lps . from the air. which must be constantly surmounting t e an cooling device.

expansion device of the apparatus. Fig. III is in partan enlarged and in part a vertical section of the cooling device of the ap aratus. Fig. IV is a to or lan view of the dri pan h ig. V

is in part an enlarged top or plan view of one of the expansion pipes utilized in the ap aratus and in art a cross section throng i the header to W ich the series of expansion pipes are connected. Fig. VI is a perspective view of a subway partly broken out and m apparatus therein.

In the accompanying drawings: 1 designates an air supply pipe that is open at its upper end and extends to a sufficient height in the open atmosphere to receive the air that is to be passed through the apparatus. This supply pipe leads to an air compressor :2 of any ordinary description that is operated by a suitable engine 3. V

4 is a conducting pipe leading from the air compressor and through which compressed air is delivered to a cooling coil 5.

For the purpose of reducing the temperature of the compressed air to atmospheric temperature instead of sensible heat while passing through the cooling coil, I mount above the cooling coil a series of drip pans 6 from which a flow of water may constantly descend upon the cooling coil and fall into a catch basin 7. The cooling coil preferably consists of a plurality of coiled )ipe sections that are united at their inlet ends to a header to which the conductinv pipe 4 extends while the outlet ends, of tie coils are connected to a header 5".

8 is a conducting pipe leading from the header 5.

9 desi nates a storage reservoir to which the conducting pipe,8 is connected and in which the cooled compressed air is stored. v

10 are receivers having communication with the storage reservoir and which are intended to be cut off, when desired, from such communication bv valves 11. These receiversare provided with drain cocks 12.-

The receivers are designed to be normally in communication with the storage reservoir in order that the condensed moisture that enters into the storage reservoir may be drained therefrom into the receivers. This moisture which is condensed by the compression of the air absorbs many impurities in the air that are soluble in water and consequently by delivering the moisture into "the receivers it is removed from the circuit traversed by the air flowing through the apparatus in order that the impuritiesmay not e again taken up by the air.

13 designates a main leading from the the flow oflair from the storage reservoir to the main may be controlled. The main 13 leads into the subway in which the air is to be purified and it has connected to it any desirable number of headers 15 in which are cut-off valves 16.

17 are ex ansion valves connected to the headers, an 18 are ex ansion pipes connected to said valves and aving greater interior area than the ports in said valves. The expansion pipes are suitably supported in the subway, within which the air is to be purified, and they are open at their ends farthestremoved from the expansion valves in order that the air may escape freely through said open ends into the subway to be distributed therein for the purification of the foul air in the subway.

I claim:

The combination, with a railway subway 0 en at both ends and having the usual venl the air has free ingress and e ress and is i drawn in, stirred up with the dust therein and expelled by the movement of the cars i passing therethrough; of an air supply stand pipe open at its upper end and extending to a sufficient height in the oppn atmosphere, an air compressor with whic the stand pi e connects, a conducting pipe leading from air compressor, a cooling coil with Which the conducting pipe connects, a series of dri 5 pans for water located above the cooling coi a catch basin for the water located beneath the cooling coil, a conducting pipe leading from the cooling coil, a storage reservoir for the cooled and compressed air, with which the conducting pipe from the coil connects, receivers having controlling valves and GOP!" nected with the storage reservoir, amain leading from the storage reservoir having a controlling valve, and a series of headers with which the main connects, provided with cut-ofi' valves, ex ansion valves connected to the headers an expansion pipes connected with the expansion valves and having greater interior area than the ports of the expansion valvcs.

l l l JOHN RING.

storage reservoir, and 14 is a valve by which ti ating shafts and air outlets and in which- 

